Brackett had to fight for it

No lack of tenacity for Colts captain

No lack of tenacity for Colts captain

February 04, 2007|JASON KELLY Tribune Staff Writer

MIAMI -- Small by NFL linebacker standards, Gary Brackett came by his tenacity naturally -- by birth order. "I was fourth in line, and the fourth boy, so I had a lot of hand-me-downs," the 5-foot-11, 235-pound Indianapolis Colts defensive captain said. "When food was cooked or served and guys were outside playing ball, I had to fight for everything I had from a young age." Brackett's determination to fight, embodied in a football career that defied every trained eye, extends far beyond the field. He signed with the Colts in 2003 as an undrafted free agent from Rutgers, where he started as an unwanted walk-on and finished as a two-year captain on scholarship. Now he roams the middle of a maligned defense that produced two inspired playoff performances to help propel Indianapolis into today's Super Bowl. That athletic path alone offers a glimpse into Brackett's resolve, but it only skims the surface of a much deeper personal reservoir. Between October 2003 and February 2005, Brackett's mother, father and one of his brothers died. Leukemia killed his brother, Greg, after a bone marrow transplant from Gary. With the financial security professional football afforded Brackett and his family, the instinct was to save his brother with money, whatever the cost. "But with a bone marrow situation, there is no amount of money that you could put at it if you're not compatible," Brackett said. "I think that is the greatest gift I have ever given someone, the gift of life." His brother's illness overwhelmed the will to defeat it, but not the spirit that always has driven Brackett. Trivial by comparison, his journey on the field reflects the same refusal to yield, an identical commitment to draw on all the resources within him to stare down doubt. From walk-on to team MVP in two years at Rutgers, he set a land-speed record for proving people wrong. Then he blew past that in the NFL. Academic issues might have scared off college recruiters. Pro scouts couldn't use that as an excuse. After every team passed him over at the 2003 NFL Draft, he signed with the Colts carrying the same stigma he took to Rutgers. In effect, he was an NFL walk-on. Family tragedies shadowed Brackett during his first two seasons in the league, but he blossomed in 2005, starting every game and compiling a team-high 131 tackles. As a captain by title, and an inspiration through action, he continued his consistent production with 120 tackles this season, second on the team. Expectations accompany Brackett now the way skepticism once did. But if his reputation has changed, his approach has not. "Always thinking you have to prove yourself, always thinking that you have to go harder than the next guy so you can be rewarded ... that has stuck with me, and that is how I continue to live my life," Brackett said. It has carried him farther than anybody but Brackett himself could have envisioned less than a decade ago. A high school senior without the grades or the promise of football greatness to merit a college scholarship is now a 26-year-old man, mature beyond his years, starting in the Super Bowl. Brackett chose a telling, if unintentional description of how he got here, conjuring the image of someone at sea, treading water, an effort that can never relent without risk of sinking. "Being undersized, coming from a school like Rutgers and trying to make it to the NFL, I have never been on top," Brackett said. "But ... that walk-on mentality has been able to keep me afloat."